Ozy Aloziem on Growing with the Lieben Center

Ozy Aloziem is a senior Psychology and Anthropology double major. Previously, Ozy served as a our Women's History Month intern and she nows serves as one of our Peer Education Interns. 


When I first started working for the Lieben Center, I’m not sure I really knew what I was committing myself to. I considered myself fairly familiar with the concept of feminism and felt comfortable proudly labeling myself as a feminist but I think there was something lacking in my understanding of this movement. In today’s culture, the word feminist is tossed around like a beach ball at a pool party in the summer. Everyone knows what it is but no one really knows what to do with it. Some feel empowered grasping it and can feel its weight. Others find it a nuisance and ridicule or dismiss those that are keen on claiming it as their own. That metaphor is admittedly a bit of a stretch but I hope you can see where I’m going with it. The spread of feminism in today’s society, or rather the familiarization of that word in our current vernacular, has many downsides and benefits. With more and more individuals getting on board with this movement, it has grown tremendously and spanned across areas the founders of feminism would never have even dreamed about. But as the momentum gains, the objective becomes more and more diluted as does its meaning. The theoretical background behind feminism centers on feminist theory which many people don’t quite fully understand. The basic tenants of feminist theory recognize that there is a fundamental difference between the experiences of men and women. This paradigm seeks to contextualize the role and experience of women. Stratification arises when there are shifts in power and is deepened when gender differences grant men power and privilege over women. Feminism also focuses on the theory of patriarchy which posits that society is organized in a way that asserts male supremacy. We can see this in all aspects of life as our world is literally inundated by patriarchal ideologies, many of which aren’t even overly apparent to us. That’s why it is so crucial to engage in critical thinking and deconstruct ideas and practices that privilege one gender over the other. In a culture where the word feminist is tossed around so frequently, it’s easy to dismiss anything attached to that word- even if what is attached to that word is important and rooted in a deep theoretical background. It’s imperative to recognize that feminism is a movement deeply grounded in theory that can’t be debunked or discredited. This is what working at the Lieben Center has helped me discern. As I prepare to graduate and move on to wherever else life takes me, I will pack my memories from these last four years and all of the lessons I have learned and continue actively striving to make this world a more just place.